The present invention relates to dollies and pertains particularly to a steerable bow dolly for a boat.
Many boats are sufficiently small and light that they are traditionally transported on a car top eliminating the necessity for trailers. Such boats while small and light are still rather difficult to easily launch by hand. For this reason, numerous dollies have been proposed for facilitating the launching of such boats.
Exemplary of the prior art approach to boat launching dollies are the following patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,540,279 issued Feb. 6, 1951 to Mosier. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,978,257 issued Apr. 4, 1961 to Barker. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,567,241 issued Mar. 2, 1971 to Foschino. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,059,282 issued Nov. 22, 1977 to Prickett. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,252 issued Nov. 17, 1981 to Montooth.
The Foschino patent is of interest in that it discloses a detachable boat wheeling device detachably mountable on the front or bow of a boat. The device, however, has a single wheel requiring steering by swinging the stern of the boat about and also requires attachment cables including hooks 15 and 16 which are adapted to hook over the gun wale portions at each side of the boat for securement of the wheeling device to the boat.
The Montooth patent is of particular interest in that it discloses the use of a front wheel support dolly in combination with a rear wheel support dolly. The front dolly, however, is permanently secured to the boat and is retractable from its supporting position and also provides a towing hitch or coupling for towing the boat behind a car. The front dolly is incapable of steering as is the applicant's.
The remaining patents above referenced are of interest only as showing the general state of the art.
These devices fail to provide the convenience of a truly quickly detachable, and yet stable, dolly for the launching of small boats. Moreover, they do not provide a truly convenient dolly that is usable in combination with a stern mounted dolly to truly enhance the ability to handle and launch small boats.
It is therefore desirable that an improved easily detachable steerable and stable dolly be available for the launching of small boats.